THE FUTURE, OR THE END OF HUMAN EXCEPTIONALISM

In a few years Uber drivers are all going to lose their jobs to self driving cars, but eventually this will happen to pretty much everyone including computer programmers and accountants and chefs, etc. There may be a few professions that remain humancentric longer (artists, baby sitters, certain kinds of writing).

•

Basic income will be broadly implemented

Since there's no work for anyone to do, for the most part, society will need to just give people some basic income. This is like welfare except everyone gets it, even if you're super rich. If you do work for some reason, you just can make more on top of it.

•

People will look at the way we eat meat now in the same way we look at slavery

As we realize humans aren't really special or fundamentally different from animals -- just the current top of the ladder -- it will dawn on us that it's f*ed up to eat meat. Also as the poor get richer, we won't be able to produce enough. An exception to this will be if we can make lab grown meat that is more efficient than raising and killing cows and pigs and chickens.

•

You won't have to die

For the most part, we'll figure out how to fix all diseases. Or rebuild you if you get killed in an accident.

•

But choosing to die will be fairly popular

We'll have to confront tough questions as a society when it's expensive to keep people around but we can, just like we could still drive a Model T if we really really wanted to and were willing to put in the time and money. But it usually doesn't make sense.

•

There are probably only 5 or 6 generations of humans left before we no longer top dog

It might be even less than this. This is insane but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Think about how fast things are changing and new research is happening.

•

Assuming no one nukes the whole planet first

A totally f*cked up but distinct possibility when you think about how many people there are in the world and that it only takes one psycho ever to do it.

•

Except for a handful of things like entertainment and companionship

And anything else that humans are uniquely suited for and likely close to as good an efficient as you'll get.

•

All those people saying that artificially intelligent machines will take over are right

I don't see any way that this doesn't happen.

•

It might be grey goo, might be robots, but my own guess is that it's cyborgs that are the next step.

Augmented humans could combine all the "common sense" and instincts that we have as humans with exponentially greater processing power.

•

Humans will be kept around by the ruling robots of the future for the same reason we keep dogs and horses around -- they (and we) are fun and cute

But we won't really be free to do whatever we want, which is the bleakest part of all of this for me. Do I want to bring children (or great great great grandchildren) into a world like that?

•

It will probably be a lot like high school

•

The most successful humans will basically be yoga instructors.

Things like ambition and intelligence won't be important anymore. Intelligence isn't that useful when robots are all exponentially more intelligent. Ambition doesn't get you far when you're the future equivalent of, say, a Pomeranian. The main things that will be valuable in human pets are the same things we value in dogs. Happiness, health, friendliness, obedience. Cuteness. Yoga instructors.

•

Once the robots take over, they'll be able to colonize other planets and galaxies

And since there are so many of those, those will become more important than stuff happening on Earth.

•

Earth will be turned into a colony for humans, sort of a national park or nature preserve